GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rebound as Fed officials calm inflation fears, for now

* Japan shares lead gains in Asia, snapping 3-day decline
* Fed Governor Waller signals policy to stay accommodative
* Inflation fears ease despite jump in U.S. producer prices
* Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn

By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) - Japanese shares led a rebound in
Asian markets on Friday, building on the lead from investors on
Wall Street snapping up stocks that would benefit most from an
economic revival.
The rally interrupted a three-day rout for stocks globally,
as market jitters over accelerating U.S. inflation were calmed
by Federal Reserve officials reiterating that price pressures
from the reopening of the economy would prove transitory.
Tokyo's Nikkei .N225 jumped 2.2%, while MSCI's broadest
index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS
gained 0.8%,
Chinese blue chips .CSI300 rose 1.7%, while Australia's
benchmark rallied 0.8%.
"U.S. equities were up, so there is a bit of relief in
Asia," said Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at
Societe Generale in Hong Kong.
However, "we certainly are going to have some volatility
near-term," as markets react to CPI and other economic
indicators for clues on the path for U.S. monetary policy.
The Fed may open the discussion on tapering its asset
purchases as soon as the policy meeting next month, he said.
Data on Wednesday showed annual U.S. consumer prices
unexpectedly rose the most in over a decade, prompting markets
to wager on earlier policy tightening and sending stock markets
tumbling. However, the reassurance from Fed officials about the
transitory nature of inflation has for now stemmed the equities
sell-off.
Among Fed speakers overnight, Governor Christopher Waller
signalled that rates won't rise until policymakers either see
inflation above target for a long time or excessively high
inflation. "Inflation, it seems, matters less today than yesterday,"
Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone in
Melbourne, wrote in a note to clients.
"The buy-the-dip crowd were out in force," suggesting that
recent selling was "a pullback within a bull market," he said.
S&P 500 futures EScv1 pointed to further gains of 0.4%
when the market reopens, following a 1.2% rally in the index
.SPX on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
ended the day up 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC advanced
0.7%.
The rally was led by shares in small-cap companies .RUT ,
chip makers .SOX and transportation providers .DJT -
businesses that stand to gain as the United States emerges from
the pandemic-induced recession.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR , which had
spiked 7 basis points following Wednesday's CPI print in the
biggest daily rise in two months, fell by nearly 4 basis points
overnight and eased further in Asian trading to 1.6539%. US/
The U.S. currency was steady against a basket of its major
peers, with the dollar index =USD consolidating around the
90.70 level for a second day on Friday, following Wednesday's
0.6% jump.
Gold XAU= traded at around $1,822 an ounce at the end of
the week, largely unchanged from the previous day, when it
recovered some of Wednesday's losses.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin BTC=BTSP recovered to just
below $50,000 on Friday, after plunging to a 2-1/2-month low of
$45,700 in the previous session when a media report of a
regulatory probe into crypto exchange Binance added to pressure
from Tesla Inc TSLA.O chief Elon Musk's reversing his stance
on accepting the digital currency. Much smaller rival dogecoin jumped as much as 20% to $0.52
after Musk said on Twitter that he was involved in work to
improve the token's transaction efficiency. Oil prices remained subdued following a drop on Thursday,
pausing a recent rally as investors turned their attention to
the coronavirus crisis in India, and as the top U.S. fuel
pipeline network resumed operations after being shut due to a
cyber attack. O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 declined 0.4% to $66.79 a barrel, while
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 slipped 0.3% to $63.62
a barrel.

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(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)